Mexican must leave Red Bull

Sergio Pérez will no longer be Max Verstappen’s teammate at Red Bull Racing next year. The 34-year-old Mexican extended his contract earlier this year, but has now had to leave due to disappointing results.

Pérez confirmed the departure on his Instagram page. “Thank you for these four years, Red Bull Racing. I wish you the best.” Red Bull also confirms the end of the collaboration.

It is still unclear who will be the teammate of four-time world champion Verstappen next season.

Last season, Pérez finished in eighth place in the World Cup standings, 285 points behind champion Verstappen. As a result, Christian Horner’s team missed out on the constructors’ title, which was won by McLaren.

It is certainly not the first time that a teammate of Verstappen has been sent away because he cannot compete with the Dutch top driver. Red Bull previously said goodbye prematurely to Pierre Gasly (in 2019, now a driver at Alpine) and Alexander Albon (2020, now Williams). In 2018, Daniel Ricciardo himself chose to leave the team when it turned out that he was no match for Verstappen.

Pérez has been driving for Red Bull since 2021. In the first three years, the experienced driver achieved a total of five grand prix victories. This year he only finished second three times, all in the early stages of the season.

After Pérez signed a new two-year contract at the beginning of June, he no longer managed to achieve good results. A sixth place was his best result since then, in the last five races he only collected one World Championship point.

The last race of the season, the Abu Dhabi GP, ended in a minor way for Verstappen’s teammate. Pérez was hit by Valtteri Bottas, spun and retired.

The chance that Pérez will still be active in Formula 1 next year is small, because except for RB – Red Bull’s sister team – all seats for 2025 have already been taken.

This could end the long career of Pérez, who previously drove for Sauber, McLaren, Force India and Racing Point. With 285 GP participations, the Mexican is one of the most experienced Formula 1 drivers ever.

He is eighth on the list of drivers with the most races in F1. Aston Martin driver Fernando Alonso is at the top of that list with 404 races.